Rebel

Chapter Seven

We rode hoverboards for a good portion of the day. I actually got really good at it! Alexsandra got good at it too. We did a race and Dario won, but I got second place. Bailey and Olwyn joined us too. Also, for some weird reason, someone would disappear for a small period of time. Everyone disappeared once. When Alexsandra left, I just rode around in circles. About halfway through the day a car pulled up and Ugine came running out of it. It was a pretty awesome reunion, and apparently I'm the only one with a dog. At the end of the day we went to get dinner.

"Guess what's for dinner today?" Alexsandra said as we were walking to the dining hall.

"Um... meatloaf?" I tried, naming the first food that came to my mind.

"Ew, no!" Alexsandra replied, "We're having sushi! I love sushi! Dr. Morsie always has professional sushi makers come and make it!"

We arrived at the dining hall where Cathleen was waiting for us. "Good, good. Let's eat now, shall we?" We all nodded and stepped into the hall. The sushi actually was really good. I sat next to Alexsandra again, and we talked about hoverboarding and sushi the entire time.

* * *

The next day I figured out why everyone disappeared yesterday. I also figured out why Alexsandra said that I didn't want to waste my free day.

I was on my way to the library with Alexsandra when some weird guy dressed in all black came up to me. At first I thought that I did something wrong, because he just asked me to follow him, and started walking towards Cathleen's office. But after I went there I found out that I definitely was not in trouble.

"Come in Sage!" Cathleen said when I arrived at her office.

I walked into her office which was as white as everything else she owned. Cathleen was sitting behind a white desk, her hands folded in front of her. On her desk were a few vials of different colored liquids. I walked in the room and closed the door behind me.

"You may sit down," Cathleen said, gesturing towards a plushy white chair in front of her. I walked over and sat down on the chair. "In case you were wondering, you are not in trouble. You are just here for your first lesson." I wanted to ask her what she meant by lesson, but she started talking again. "Now, to give a bit of background, in order to get your power, you need to know how to control it. In this situation, you will have a simple power, telekinesis. Use that power to survive the situation, got it?"

I did not get it, but Cathleen just grabbed a vial and placed it in my hand. "I drink it?" I asked. She nodded, so I popped off the lid, and stared at the liquid. It was amber with swirls of bright green. It smelled like old tuna. I definitely did not want to consume that.

"Go on." Cathleen said, putting on a pair of dark glasses, "Drink it."

I decided then and there that if I didn't want to see Professor Hoolay again, I'd have to do what Cathleen says. I plugged my nose, took a deep breath, and gulped down the liquid. It tasted moldy and bitter and burned my throat as it went down. I strongly resisted the urge to cough.

"Well done." Cathleen said, typing something on a holograph. I tried to read what was on the screen, but I couldn't read backwards well. "Now, I'm gonna start the simulation. Ready?" Cathleen didn't wait for my reply, she just tapped a button on the holograph.

My body convulsed, and everything went black. I felt like I was being pushed through a funnel. I wasn't unconscious, my thoughts were still rushing through my head. After a while of sitting there in silence, I realized that my eyes were just closed. I opened them, expecting to see Cathleen sitting at her desk, but instead I saw the assembly room back at my old school.

Oh no! I thought to myself, I must've passed out and Cathleen saw my weakness so she took me back here!

The principal was talking, "And now, without further ado...." he said, "I would like to invite Sage Cordell to the stand to explain why she failed and why Cathleen Morsie sent her back here."

I swallowed. This wasn't good. I stood up and slowly made my way to the front of the room, feeling the eyes of everyone around me locked on me. Coming to the conclusion that I might as well rock my humiliation, I stepped up to the podium.

"Um, hello?" I said into the microphone, "As you all probably know I am Sage Cordell and--"

"How did you get sent away from Cathleen already?" a kid from the dense crowd of students yelled.

"Well, um--"

"Did you get in trouble?" A girl asked.

"Er, no I don't think so, I--"

"Why are you back here?" a girl sitting in the front row asked, "What if we didn't want you back?"

Suddenly the whole auditorium burst into an uproar. Kids were yelling and screaming, and they all were standing up and running towards me. I backed up to the wall to evade advancing enemies. Suddenly, there was a cracking noise, and the light fixture broke off the ceiling. Metal and glass came tumbling down onto the students. It almost moved in slow motion. Some strange sensation came over me and a voice whispered in my head, "In this situation, you will have a simple power, telekinesis. Use that power to survive the situation, got it?"

I knew what I had to do. I threw out my hand and forced all of my will towards the light fixture. To my great surprise, there was a tingling feeling in my fingers, and the light fixture stopped falling.

It was dead silent. The students standing under the fixture stared wide-eyed at the hovering fixture above them. I moved my hand and the fixture moved with it, over to the back of the gym where no one was.

"Good job Sage." Cathleen's voice said from seemingly nowhere, "You may come back." And then again, I doubled over and it went dark. I could feel myself sitting in the chair in Cathleen's office. Slowly, I sat up and opened my eyes. Cathleen was tapping on her holograph again. Her face was twisted into something that looked like a mix of pride and surprise.

Whatever I did, I managed to make Cathleen Morsie pleasantly surprised. And that takes skill.